Scaling the Great Wall

A View of Beijing Traffic on the Way to the Wall

I would have had this up sooner, but the internet wasn’t working real well (or at all) this weekend. I toured the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall on Saturday. It’s supposed to be one of the less touristy sections (being about 90 minutes or so out from the center of the city), though there were still a lot of people there. There was quite a hike up to the top. The trail up was quite exhausting as the trail ran straight up the mountain, rather than utilizing the switch-back pattern that you usually see with such steep inclines. The views were quite nice up at the top, but I think if I did it again, I’d take the cable car up. The wall itself was not very flat either and tended to follow the contours of the mountain, such that some sections of the wall were quite steep. I was having trouble imagining how some medieval peasant in full armor would have been able to patrol the wall all day without passing out, given the rather rolling nature of the wall, but I suppose they found a way to make it work. I’ve posted some pictures that show most of the aspects of the wall. The views of the surrounding mountains and valleys are quite impressive.